The North East Circles project started in Northumbria in April 2010. In its third year of operation it expanded to include Durham and Teesside. Currently, the scheme is funded to run ten circles in a twelve month period by the Ministry of Justice, but was initially funded by the Northern Rock Foundation, with additional funding from North East Regional Offender Health in its third year.

North East Circles is delivered in a partnership with the Police, Probation and Barnardo’s East region.

This is the first Circles of Support and Accountability Project in which Barnardo’s is directly involved. It is an exciting and innovative addition to their core aims of protecting and safeguarding children through preventative initiatives.

Supervision and management of Circles volunteers is fully integrated with the risk management and statutory supervision of the ‘core member’ by public protection officers from the Police and Probation.

Barnardo’s provides the co-ordination and practice management of this project. A part-time coordinator works with three Barnardo’s external consultants to manage the Circles operation. The project continues to progress and to recruit volunteers from all parts of the community. We would welcome enquiries from anyone over 18 living in the North East interested in this challenging and rewarding work.

Volunteers are carefully screened and professionally trained for this demanding work. They support the ‘core member’ to lead an offence free and productive life, and help manage any further risk of sexual harm. We are confident that this innovative approach further enhances the work of the statutory agencies in protecting the public and reducing re-offending.

To find out more about how you can become involved as a Volunteer or if you would like further information on the project, please contact North East Circles.

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Confidentiality statement

Circles UK, as the umbrella charity for Circles Projects across England Wales can provide information on the availability of Circles across England and Wales and how to volunteer for our work. Circles UK itself does not provide advice or counselling. In a situation when anyone contacting us provides identifying information and raises our concerns that a child is at risk, or a criminal offence has been committed of which the police may be unaware, we will pass that information onto the appropriate agencies.